Plot: What’s it about?
With the show’s popularity increasing as the season’s progressed, the fifth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation was among the most popular. It houses three of my favorite episodes of all time with "The Game", "Cause and Effect" and "The Inner Light". In "The Game" we find Wesley Crusher returning home from Starfleet Academy back on board the Enterprise for a short while. While there, he meets a young ensign by the name of Lefler (Ashley Judd) and as the two get to know each other, the find that the crew is slowly becoming addicted to a game that acts on the pleasure center of the brain. As the chase narrows down to Wesley, only he (or Data) can save the Enterprise from certain disaster. With "Cause and Effect", the crew essentially enacts the same scene five different times (a la "Groundhog Day" though this came out first), each time learning a bit more and more about their unique predictament. But we do get to see the Enterprise blown up five times! Lastly, "The Inner Light" shows us as Picard (Patrick Stewart) has been mysteriously knocked unconscious and awakens to find himself living someone else’s life. For more than 45 years pass, though in his "real" life, only a matter of minutes has passed. Many say that Patrick Stewart was robbed of an Emmy for his efforts here.
This season also saw the passing of Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry. It’s not stretching the truth to say that Roddenberry created somewhat of an empire with his ideas. Though his subsequent series have become more popular and profitable, the original Star Trek holds up as one of the landmarks of the twentieth century. As with the other seasons (and I’m sure, the two left to come), the collection holds 26 episodes with the seventh disc containing two episodes and the supplements. Year five of this series is probably my favorite and for several reasons, not only were the show’s special effects getting better, but so were the stories. The episode "Darmok" was hailed as one of the most popular episodes ever in the sense that an entire language was created for the show itself. The entire cast is back, plus a few notable guest stars to note (Ashley Judd and Famke Jessen who have become bigger stars than most of the cast), so sit back, relax and enjoy another quality season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The following episodes appeared in the fifth season:
Disc 1:
Redemption, Part II
Darmok
Ensign Ro
Silicon Avatar
Disc 2:
Disaster
The Game
Unification, Part I
Unification, Part II
Disc 3:
A Matter Of Time
New Ground
Hero Worship
Violations
Disc 4:
The Masterpiece Socity
Conundrum
Power Play
Ethics
Disc 5:
The Outcast
Cause and Effect
The First Duty
Cost Of Living
Disc 6:
The Perfect Mate
Imaginary Friend
I, Borg
The Next Phase
Disc 7:
The Inner Light
Time’s Arrow, Part I
Video: How does it look?
I won’t re-invent the wheel here, as the episodes of this season are nearly identical to those of the previous years. They are presented in a full-frame presentation. While this is the fifth season, the stakes were a bit higher. I have to say that these look just as good as when I first saw them. Though I do have to admit that some episodes look terrible, with artifacting, though it’s mostly limited to indoor shots. The color palette used is very muted, showing that ‘futuristic’ time frame, but the DVD’s bring out everything and make it look better, but they can also make it look worse. Still, I haven’t had the opportunity to review many TV shows on DVD and this is better than I’ve seen them look during their original broadcast. Not much to complain about here, though errors do exist, it’s the best they’ve looked and most likely will.
Audio: How does it sound?
Again, these are re-mastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. Obviously the twenty year time difference between the two makes most of the difference, but the increased budget does as well. Dialog is very clear, though I felt that some times there was a bit of a "hiss" to it. The surround effects could have been used a bit more, I feel. During the pilot episode, the opening credits had the starship whizzing by and thereby activating the surround channels, but during the rest of the episodes I didn’t notice the same effect. Could have just been me, but I feel that the sound could have used a bit of tweaking. Still, it’s the best these have ever sounded, so you’ll have to trust me when I say you won’t be let down.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Once again, we are greeted with the standard array of supplements. The Mission Overview feature tells of some of the problems and key episodes of the fifth season, highlighting a few. This features some interviews with the cast and crew (and again feature the interview date, something which I can’t get enough of) and tells plenty of information about the season. We then have the "Departmental Briefing" which features Production and Visual Effects. For the episode "The Inner Light", Michael Westmore is interviewed as is Patrick Stewart telling of the hours and hours of makeup that he had to go through to simulate his aging for the episode. Evidently some six hours of make-up were needed to age him! We then find "Memorable Missions" which focus on a few of the episodes, "The Game" and "Darmok" and Counselor Troi tells us of how she filmed a scene in which she had to eat a chocolate sundae…well, evidently after every take she would spit it into a bucket so as not to gain weight. Gross. Lastly, we’re greeted with a 30 minute featurette remembering the show’s creator, Gene Roddenberry. This shows us footage of him along with the dedication of the Gene Roddenberry building at the Paramount lot. All in all, this season is among the best and my personal favorite, Trekkies who have bought the seasons to date should see nothing wrong with adding this to their collection.
